Faber Books and Jeff Barrett at Heavenly have invited me down to Faber's regular words and music event at The Social in central London on Oct 7 to read from my new book, 'Romany and Tom'. The evening is called Unreal City and features appearances from - among others - Andrew Weatherall, Jon Savage and Hanif Kureishi. I've been asked to focus on the sections dealing with my dad's life as a musician and bandleader on the London jazz scene of the fifties and early sixties. Should be fun.
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Back to the future
On August 20 and 21 I played my first solo gigs for thirty years. Back on guitar. With a bunch a new songs that have bubbled out of me unexpectedly over the past six months. I chose a tiny folk 'n' blues basement - The Slaughtered Lamb - in London's Clerkenwell, and invited Bernard Butler to come and accompany me on electric guitar. All I can say is, it was great.
I played eleven new songs and dipped into the past playing a couple each from both my early Summer Into Winter EP (1982) and North Marine Drive (1983). I want to thank everyone who came. It was a good old-fashioned sweatbox. The urge to sing was strong. I was thrilled with the reaction and hope to be announcing some more UK dates for November soon.
Next month I go into the studio to start recording the songs for a new solo album. It should be finished by December and released before Easter 2014. My new book 'Romany and Tom' will be published next February too (July in the US), for which I expect to be announcing appearances, so it will be a busy year. And yes, I hope to play more gigs internationally.
It's great to be back writing and singing and playing guitar again.
